The University of Sydney is thrilled to announce its delegate for CAUSINDY 2015 is Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan. Jarrah will be representing The University of Sydney at the Conference in his capacity as an alumnus of the University.

Jarrah (@infiniteteeth) is a Balinese-Australian who attended primary school in Bali and has lived in Sydney since. He has a Bachelor of Liberal Studies with majors in English and Sanskrit, as well as Honours and Masters degrees in physics. He has written commentary on Indonesian politics for New Matilda.

His research interests include the traditional historiography of Southeast Asia, as well as the 20th century history, modern literature and regional popular music of Indonesia.

UNSW is delighted to announce that its delegate for CAUSINDY 2015 is Agung Wasono. Agung will be representing UNSW at the conference in his capacity as a current student of the University.

Agung (@agungwasono) was born in Magelang, a small city in Central Java, Indonesia. His bachelor’s degree was in law. He obtained his master’s degree in Planning and Public Policy at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta and now he is taking combined masters degree in Public Policy and Governance and Development Studies at UNSW.

Agung is the founder and the Executive Director of LANSKAP Indonesia (Institute for Economics Politics and Public Policy Analysis). The aim of this organisation is to conduct research and to provide assistance on the improvement of public policy in Indonesia especially at the local level of policy making. He also serves as a Program Manager of Democratic and State Governance Unit at Kemitraan (Indonesia-based NGO on governance reform).

During his work at Kemitraan, he has managed several programs/projects such as: budget transparency, electoral reform, political party reform, women’s representation in politics, Millennium Development Goals, and the Preparation of the Post-2015 Development Goals. He was also the National Coordinator for the monitoring of 2014 General Elections.

Australia Awards are excited to announce their delegates for CAUSINDY 2015, each of which will be representing Australia Awards at the Conference in their capacity as current Australia Awards recipients or alumni of the program.

Christian Donny Putranto

Christian Donny Putranto (@cdonnyp) is a Master of Laws student at the Melbourne Law School as an Australia Awards Scholar, with a focus on human rights law. Born and bred in Jakarta, Donny’s attraction and passion towards human rights law have led to a number of unique experiences. After completing a Bachelor of Laws at Atma Jaya Catholic University, he worked for a national NGO advocating children’s rights.

In 2011, he was recruited by the International Committee of the Red Cross regional delegation in Jakarta to manage and carry out human rights and humanitarian laws training for the Indonesian police and armed forces across the country. Between 2013 and 2015, Donny worked at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Jakarta adjudicating asylum claims from asylum-seekers in Indonesia. Donny also has a keen interest in literature, with Doyle, Orwell, Kafka, and Camus amongst his favourite authors and Sherlock his all-time favourite character.

Dicky Khaerul Wallad

D.K. Wallad graduated with a Master of International Relations from the University of Melbourne in July 2015. In 2011-2013, he worked as External Relations Officer at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta where he was responsible for facilitating the organisation’s external relations and projects with partners such as Australia, India, Russia, and the United Nations. In Canberra, September 2011, he was one of the ASEAN Secretariat’s delegates in the 24th ASEAN-Australia Forum, an annual meeting between Permanent Representatives of ASEAN and Ambassador of Australia to ASEAN which aims at reviewing and advancing ASEAN-Australia cooperation.

As an Indonesian who lived in Melbourne during increased tensions between Indonesia and Australia (2013-2015), D.K. Wallad was exposed to various issues and views on Indonesia-Australia relationship, including the perspectives of local Australians and the Indonesian diaspora in Melbourne. He was awarded the Australia Awards Scholarship from the Government of Australia and the Melbourne Global Scholars Award from the University of Melbourne.

Marlisa Soepeno

Marlisa is a Foreign Service Officer with the Political, Social and Security Division in the Office of the Minister at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is also the interpreter to the President of Indonesia and the First Lady. Previously, she was a foreign policy analyst on Indonesia’s emerging markets, covering Latin American countries, and an Intern at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris, France.

Marlisa holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Hasanuddin University, Makassar. She obtained a double Master’s degree in Public Policy and Diplomacy from the Australian National University. During her time in Canberra, she was active in various activities on efforts to strengthen Australia – Indonesia relations, among others: her participation at the Canberra Multicultural Festival; her involvement in various visits of Indonesia’s high officials to Canberra, as well as her work as interpreter to Australia – Indonesia Partnership for Decentralization (AIPD) study visits to states and territories in Australia where she met and interviewed Indigenous Australians in Tiwi Island, Darwin.

Her previous field experience in development work has transformed Marlisa into a person with continuous passion to contribute back to the community. In her capacity as an Australian Awards Alumni, she joined the Alumni Reference Group of Poverty Reduction, Disadvantaged Area and Post-Conflict Regions cluster and contribute her ideas as well as collaborate with other alumni in this field. She is also the Founder of Makassar Interpreter Training (MINT) Initiative, a program funded by Alumni Grant Scheme aimed at enhancing the capacity and improving the livelihood of local-based interpreters in the Eastern Part of Indonesia.